Bernstein: Bears Coach Matt Nagy More Open With Media, For Now

(670 The Score) Any Bears fan listening to 670 The Score on Wednesday night heard something to which we are unaccustomed — a head coach actually willing to share information and sound like a normal enough person.

Rather than just a pile of grumbling nonsense meant to run out the clock on mandated appearance time and get him out of there, new Bears coach Matt Nagy talked about the development of his new offense, the implementation of Oregon principles brought by new coordinator Mark Helfrich and the extent to which they would have to make the system basic for young quarterback Mitchell Trubisky at this point. There was, in other words, actual content.

If you’re paying attention, Nagy has even already given us a pair of plays to examine. His initial press conference featured a reference to “Flanker drive Texas, halfback right,” and he mentioned Wednesday night an example of a basic call that his Bears will need to know.

“These guys, they don’t know how to run ’22 Z In’, a staple play in the West Coast offense,” he said. “We’re going to detail and detail and detail how to run that play versus every coverage — versus press, versus free access, the timing, the steps, the three-hitch throw, anticipatory throw to the back of the helmet. And that’s just one play.”

But it’s something for any of us who want to know more about the Bears. We can then go online and read what Bill Walsh himself wrote about it, describing the quarterback’s drop, the receivers’ splits and routes, the hot read to the back and the position of the tight end over the middle as “the last outlet.”

We’re already smarter about what we will see because of something the coach told us.